The Junior League of Pelham hosted a two-tiered food drive this month to benefit Hope Community Services.

The first part of this food drive began on Tuesday, March 3, when local restaurants agreed to donate a portion of their receipts to the effort. The Junior League promoted the event on social media and posted flyers around town encouraging residents who normally would stay home to dine out at one of the participating restaurants.

Then on Saturday, March 14 dozens of volunteers came to the Daronco Town House to assemble shelf-stable, ready-to-make taco meals for Hope Community clients. Proceeds from the restaurants helped fund the effort.

“A pillar of the Junior League is ending hunger throughout Westchester,” said Susan Davidson, who helped organize the event. “It’s important to sponsor events that will go towards that goal, and this event was a great way to get all members of the community involved.”

During the Dine-to-Donate day on March 3rd, more than 10 restaurants throughout Pelham donated between 10 and 20 percent of their sales to the Junior League’s efforts.

Participating restaurants included Sergio’s, Cantina Lobos, Rockwells, Renaissance Bagel Cafe, Gigi Mediterranean Counter and Pizza Fenice, along with others.

“As a restaurant, we just wanted to help,” said Eli Kosturi of Gigi. “It’s really important to us to give back to the Pelham community whenever we can.”

“I try to give back whenever I can,” said John Gristina, the owner of Pizza Fenice.

The second part of the event, an assembly-line style community food packing day at the Daronco Town House, turned out to be a big hit. Volunteers ranged from elementary school kids to adults.  Participants brought dry and canned foods, and volunteers began bagging easy-to-make taco meals, which included cans of corn and beans, as well as tortillas. The last item placed in the bag was a recipe for chicken and bean tacos.

As is the case with similar food drives, the community effort brought smiles to the volunteers. The youngest of those volunteers wrote personalized note cards for the bags. 

Once all the food was packed and ready to go, many of the volunteers made their way out to the gazebo, where a local band, School of Rock Mamaroneck, played.

The following Monday, all the meals were donated to the Hope Community Services food pantry in New Rochelle. 

“The idea for the event came together over time,” said Erica Youngren of the Junior League. “We knew we wanted to do something related to ending hunger. The exact idea came through a vote on what we all thought would most benefit the community as Junior League provisional class members.”

Thanks to the Junior League, along with Pelham’s participating restaurants and dozens of volunteers, some 250 local families received a meal from the drive.